History of Vontimitta Temple

The idol here was believed to have been installed by Jambavantha, the bear king who helped Lord Rama in his mission to Lanka. According to Legend, Rama, Lakshmana, and Sita spent some time here in the forest during the period of their exile. Once to quench the thirst Sita, Rama shot an arrow deep into the earth, upon which sweet water gushed out. Later, with this perennial water spring, two small tanks named Rama theertham and Lakshmana theertham. The artifacts of the temple evidenced the Vijayanagara period. According to the artifacts, a king known as kampana came to this village with his army and drank the water of Ramagundam or Ramatirtham and built a garbhagriha for the God Kodandarama, and also dug a big tank to the south of this temple.

 

In Treta yuga when Brahmarshi Viswamitra wanted to perform a yajna(ritual sacrifice), he requested Lord Rama and his brother Lakshman to protect that from the evil forces by that time both Rama and Lakshman were kids, and this led to the killing of evil force named Thataki. The place derived the name of Vontimitta after two local hunters Vontadu and Mittadu, who were said to have quenched the thirst of King Kamparayalu when his entourage visited the place. On their request, the king constructed this temple and named the place ‘Vontimitta’, but King Bukkarayalu opened the temple in 1356 A.D. In the 16th Century, the Vijayanagara rulers constructed the Antaralayam, Rangamantapam, Mahapranganam, Gopuram, and Ratham in a phased manner and developed the temple. The Kainkaryams were introduced with voluntary contributions from villagers. This temple was built by King Kamparayalu and Cholas.

 

We can see the contributions of the Vijayanagara kings. Vavilikolanu Subba Rao was a poet and great devotee of Rama of Vontimitta, he was popularly known as 'Andhra Valmiki. He lived in Vontimitta and translated 'Ramayana' into Telugu. He also wrote a commentary on Ramayanam, known by the name of 'Mandaaram'. He used to beg money from the villagers for meeting the expenses for the development of the temple. He spent money for making a gold cover for the main deity (Moola Virat). This place is associated with great scholars and bhaktas like Bammera Pothana, Tallapaka Annamacharya, Ayyalaraju Tripurantaka, and Ayyalaraju Ramabhadra. Bammera Pothana who wrote Bhagavatham dedicated to Lord Sri Rama here.